“Isolated, apolitical and tragic”: comparing media portrayals of incel violence to violence of right-wing and Islamist perpetrators

Abstract

ABSTRACT How incidents of mass violence are portrayed has great consequences for how the violence is understood and responded to, including whether it requires political attention. This article examines the portrayal of incel violence, a relatively new phenomenon of violence perpetrated by people who identify with the misogynistic worldview present in and perpetuated by incel online forums. It does so through placing this violence in comparison with Islamist violence and right-wing violence, both of which have shaped understandings of mass violence so far. By conducting this three-way comparison, this article investigates to what extent portrayals of incel violence align with media portrayals of other types of violence. This article finds that incel violence is portrayed in an overly personalised manner without much reference to the violence’s gendered socio-political context, hindering the possibility of incel violence being understood as political. Not only does this article helps understandings of incel violence per se but also provides insight into to what extent processes of politicisation and securitisation play a part in understandings of misogynistic violence.